Day 7 Barcelona Trip Review 2010

Today, Thursday, is my last day in Barcelona. It's only a partial day so I can't do any sight seeing as my train leaves from Barcelona Sants Train Station at 3pm so I can't go far. Plus, I have to check out of the Pension Plaza de Goya no later than noon.

I awoke today at 8am, much earlier than I'd hoped, but felt rested. Time to get my "stuff" together. But NOT before breakfast. So once again, I throw on yesterday's clothes and head down for breakfast, this morning choosing another bar on the same bloc, I walk in and the Spanish/Catalán bar tender looks at me like I'm a foreigner. Ha! I order a "pan tumaca" with coffee. He asks me to repeat the order, I do, and he still doesn't understand me. So I say, more simply, a "pan tostada con aceite y tomate". THAT he understands. So I have my breakfast in peace at the bar and then go back to the pension for a long morning getting my stuff ready for the day's travel.

Not quite sure how I'm going to get through the morning before my 3pm train but decide to find a nearby coffee shop to kill some time. And that's just what I do after my noontime checkout.
I found a bakery/café called "Fleca els Angels" at Plaça Àngels, 4, in the upper El Raval neighborhood, not all that far from my pension. Luckily, there was a table in the back corner where I felt comfortable with my suitcase and shoulder bag as I drank my coffee and croissant. There, I spent the better part of an hour writing postcards - so they'd have the Barcelona postmark.

It's time to go at 1pm and and I'm a little nervous knowing I'll have to use their restroom before leaving, me with my suitcase, shoulder bag, and jacket - which won't all fit in the bathroom with me. So I tie the shoulder bag strap around not only the suitcase handle but also around the back of the chair, making it at least a little more challenging for any would-be thief. So that's how I left all my worldly belongings behind, in a public space, while I was behind closed doors - for exacly 25 seconds. And DON'T think I washed my hands, either. And there they sat, everything where I left them. Untouched. And yes, I ALWAYS wash my hands after using the restroom. Something, as I've found, is a rarity in Spanish restrooms at bars or restaurants - or anywhere else for that matter.

Now it's about 1pm, I mail my postcards, and go to a place I'd seen before on my route to/from the pension. It was called Restaurante El Sol, on the Carrer dels Tallers, 75, which has a good-looking menu del día. I've found it's more affectionately known as "Restaurante Pedro y Manolo". This is my kind of place; no-nonsense, very friendly and casual, and a lunch menu for 9 Euros. Can't beat that. Although they have a dining room in the back I put myself next to the open door facing the bar with my suitcase back in the corner, inaccessible to anyone.

Good thing I wouldn't need to use the restroom while here as it's up a narrow staircase and can't imagine having to carry all my stuff up there. Nope. I'm good.

I choose the paella, which was good, and the oven roasted chicken (which turned out to be fried chicken) with potatoes. The chicken was only a little dry inside a little olive oil took care of that. Besides, how can I complain for 9 Euros?! I opt for the red house wine, skip the dessert, and have coffee at the end. It was a good, big lunch.

Time to head to the metro station - which I do at about 2pm. I feel a bit of anxiety for the time, but that quickly passes as I realize the metro will take about 20 minutes maximum and 2 minutes to get through security to my train at Sants Station. This is just what happens - EXCEPT I went to the wrong waiting area, realizing my mistake about 10 minutes before the train leaves and still get there with 8 minutes to spare. Isn't traveling by train great?

My tourist-class car is about half full upon leaving but fills to the maximum in Zaragoza, the only stop along the AVE Barcelona-Madrid route. There's a group of 8 teenagers SEATED in the middle of the aisle in the section between train cars where the toilets are, all playing cards and shouting for the good-or-bad of the game, smacking each other on the head and making all the passengers' heads turn whenever the car doors open. Passing-through passengers literally climb through the game and it never occurs to the kids that they're in everyone's way.

FINALLY, after about 20 minutes of this ruckus, the angry, 50-something train attendant sternly throws them out, marching them all past me, presumably to their seats. I was wishing he'd throw them OFF the speeding train! I thought, man, ONLY in Spain would youngsters brazenly sit in the aisle, totally blocking pedestrian traffic and never think they were causing any trouble. Not their problem, after all. My dad would be proud hearing me repeat his words, "Kids these days."
The nearly 3 hour train ride speeds as I work on this blog and look over trip photos, never once looking up to see what awful Hollywood action movie they're showing on the monitor. My only "break" has been to use the restroom once in the car's "Play Space".

My train arrives in Madrid about 30 minutes from now but we're still traveling at nearly 300 Km/h over flat terrain. It's cloudy, yet again, but I'm happy to be returning home. I only wish my time in Barcelona could've offered nicer weather to get better photos for BarcelonaMan.com. that I'm a bit disappointed. But it was still interesting. I saw some new things, made some new contacts, tried some new pensiones, and the Alimentaria Barcelona 2010 "scene" was definitely an experience. I can only hope to return to Barcelona again soon.
Final Barcelona Thoughts:
We've all read the cautionary tales about rampant crime, pickpockets and prostitution in Barcelona. But in all my 6 nights, 7-days there I didn't once experience or witness any crime of any kind - but I did see only a few prostitutes. (Remember, prostitution is legal in Spain) Besides, what with the rain and cool temperatures it wasn't exactly "hooking weather".

The food was good enough although my standards aren't exactly high. I rarely choose higher-bill restaurants. Lunches were nearly always basic foods chosen from a "menú del día" and dinners mainly consisted of a couple of "raciones" or "tapas" and an equal (or greater) number of beers to make up a lighter dinner. Just good food at good prices and in comfortable environments.
The weather rarely cooperated. Keep in mind I visited March, clearly part of the rainy season, but coastal forecasts are always unpredictable. Next time I'll try returning in the autumn after the tropical summer passes, when it's less humid yet still green.

Look soon for individual reviews on Hostal Martin, Pension Bahia, and Pension Plaza de Goya, each posted in this chronological order, one entry per day. At the very end I'll also post a number of new photos not yet seen in the previous blog entries.

Thanks for following along with BarcelonaMan!

Day 1 Barcelona Trip Review 2010

Today was holiday in Madrid so there was little traffic on the way to Atocha Train Station. I didn't sleep too well with the anxiety of the trip upon me and was looking forward to that first coffee with the served breakfast - and traveling at 300 kilometers per hour.

I'd arrived maybe 25 minutes early for my 8:30am departure on the super-fast AVE train and walked through security in maybe 10 seconds. 15 seconds later I was at my "via" and got in line with those going to Barcelona. 4 minutes later I was next to the train itself and had time to kill so I enjoyed my surroundings and marveled at the pointy nose (actually, it was the rear) of my train. My car was the last one, the "Club Class" car, car #1, la-dee-dah. hehehe...

The Club Class car is a 2 by 1 seating configuration and mine was at the window while my "neighbor" had the aisle. No problem. While I usually request and aisle seat it hardly mattered on this 2 hour and 52 minute trip to Barcelona. Besides, he got off at the only route stop in Zaragoza after just 1 hour and 20 minutes into the journey and so I had the two seats to my self after that.


The breakfast was served swiftly, maybe 20 minutes after leaving Madrid Atocha Train Station. We had a choice from the menu, either a bacon quiche with asparagus on the side or, what I chose, a whipped fried egg with a huge slice of bacon, tomato, croissant, bread roll, tiny bottle of olive oil, and coffee with the strawberry yogurt for dessert. Who has dessert with breakfast? It was all tasty, hot, and served on a large, cloth-covered plastic tray with real china plates, real metal silverware, and real ceramic coffee cups. Everything was "real". Oh, and they served us all juice upon boarding in real glasses, too.

With an hour and a half left in our trip I ventured ahead to mid-train to join a mob of other travelers getting their second coffee of the morning. I was surprised to see one young Spanish women drinking a beer - at 10 o'clock in the morning!? But wha-evuh'. Unfortunately, the windows in the bar-car were at the height of my mid-section so I could see absolutely nothing without bending down. A group of older, shorter Spanish ladies sipping coffee and talking loudly didn't seem to pay any attention to the wonderful views they had thanks to their stature.

We arrived on time, at 11:22am, in Barcelona Sants Station and we all got off immediately. The last time I went to Barcelona was also by train, but they didn't have the fast AVE train yet, not until 2008, and I remember a sense of confusion upon reaching Sants Station with the rest of the travelers. Where do I go?? Not this time. I went straight to the metro and made my way with confidence.

My first stop was to the Barcelona Tourism Office - and they really rolled out the red carpet for lil' ol' me, BarcelonaMan. I thought, "Man! Madrid's Tourism Office doesn't even know MadridMan exists and I live there!!" I'd been in constant correspondence with them for the previous 2 weeks so they were well prepared for my visit. They gave me not only a folder full of useful, detailed tourist literature but also a Barcelona Press Card, issued specifically to me with my name and the dates I'm in Barcelona. The Press Pass is good for entry into nearly every (or every) museum, Antonio Gaudi structure, tours and tour buses, trams, teléfericos, and cultural sites in Barcelona. The list of participating entities is long and distinguished, probably 60 of them. This card isn't for just anyone, mind you, only for media, journalists, and travel professionals such as yours truly. Next time I come to Barcelona, they told me, the Barcelona Press Card would be sent to my hotel.

Next, I checked into my Hostal Martina in the Eixample District at about 1:30pm and the owner was here to meet me. Nice woman. I'd stayed here before and she remembered me. After she showed me my incredible room (wow, wait 'til you see the photos), she invited me to the salon and we drank coffee and chatted for about an hour and a half about the tourism and hostel business and the affect on it from the worldwide economic crisis. As I said, she's a very nice woman and interesting too so the time passed very quickly.

Now it's 2:30pm so I thanked her for the coffee and conversation and excused myself to see Barcelona. For the most part, the morning had been sunny on the train as well as the early afternoon. But no sooner did I leave the hostel did it get cloudy and threaten rain.

My plan was to take advantage of the sunny-ish skies and see Barcelona from "above", from the Mount Tibidabo amusement park and church. There are some wonderful views from that vantage point, but it didn't look like the views would be good afterall as the clouds rolled in. It's just as well, too, because I took the L7 underground TRAIN (not the metro) from the Plaça de Catalunya, got off at the end of the line at Avinguda del Tibidabo, and crossed the street to the Tramvia Blau. I waited with 5 other tourists until one of them discovered that the tram doesn't run on weekdays, ONLY on Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays. Turns out, that's true. And I suspected as much but thought since it was a holiday in Madrid today that it was the SAME holiday here in Barcelona. Nu-uh. Nope. Not here. The Tramvia Blau DOES normally run everyday but only from the spring through autumn - and we're about a week (??) away from officially entering spring. So... Maybe tomorrow/Saturday? Doubtful. Maybe Sunday? More possible. But it all depends on the weather. They say it'll rain all weekend. Wonderful.

So after all the newly-informed tourists left the Tramvia Blau stop, I crossed the street once again to "Hop On" the Barcelona Bus Turistic and "simply" use that as my transportation back to the Plaça de Catalunya. This was a mistake as I quickly found out. Not only was I sitting in the back-of-the-bus on the lower level, my seat was like two steps up from the surface and A) my head kept hitting the air conditioner unit with every road bump and B) I couldn't see out the window until I bent over to waist-height. (I know, this seems to be becoming a common theme) Not only that, but the bus was full-full-full and then there was traffic and it took nearly an hour to reach the Plaza de Catalunya. I'll take the bus again and sit on top IF the weather's good as I'm fighting a cold now and won't take any chances.

I get off the bus, now it's like 5pm and I STILL haven't eaten lunch and nearly starved. I text my buddy S.R. in Madrid, asking him where that bar in the Boqueria Market he raves about with their good food and drinks. He quickly replies and I make my way to the market for a wonderful meal, real local goods I'm imagining. If you haven't been there before, the Boqueria Market is beautiful - BUT BIG. ENORMOUS, in fact, and the stands/stalls are all very close together. I'm going 'round and 'round looking for this bar-restaurant, "Restaurante El Quim", it's called. I can't find it anywhere! Eventually I do come across a layout map of all the merchants and find the bar. GREAT! So I go to the area where it should be. Nothing. Can't find it. I ask a merchant, a real fish monger wench, (and I write that with all due respect to not only her gender but for the hard job that it is) and she kindly points me around the corner, still going around in circles with no luck, and finally I see the sign. Restaurante El Quim. IT'S CLOSED! ARGH!!!! I imagine they have "normal" restaurant hours and, well, logically, it would be closed at 5pm - now 5:30pm - but hoped since it was in the market which never closes, except at night, that they'd stay open too. Nope. My loss. Okay. Another day it will have to be. I did enjoy, however, watching the piles upon piles of shellfish at the seafood merchants. They had a coule of lobsters which were as big as my thighs!! (look closely in the photo below)


I walk upward through the El Raval neighborhood and find the famed "Elisabets" bar-restaurant. I'd eaten their menu del dia the last time I was in Barcelona and like it fine, Catalan food at very good prices. So I take a table in the middle of the restaurant, very casual setting and I'm tired and ready to eat. The waiter comes along and tells me they JUST closed the kitchen and only have cold foods. Huh! No thanks. He apologizes and I leave dejected and a stomach as empty as the Tramvia Blau on a Friday afternoon - before spring. Man! I just can't catch a break today!

Continuing up through El Raval, now at 5:50pm, I see a place I'd passed before but never stopped in the Bar Castells on Plaça Bonsucces, 1. THIS is my kind of place (for good or for bad). It's unassuming, basic, home made food at very reasonable prices. The place is mostly empty except for a group of 20-something Spanish women chatting away over their coffees and a (guessing) Norwegian family talking about Barcelona, and an English family calmly sipping wine. Otherwise, the dining room is about empty. The bar, on the other hand, is packed with people having coffee or merienda. THIS IS THE TIME, afterall, not for a big meal as I was about to order. And so I did...

My order, a cardiac attack waiting to happen, included three slices of lomo (pork steak), 2 long links of sausage, a fried egg, fried potatoes, and (thankfully!) three large slices of tomato. This large combination plate, when ordered, brought a surprised look from the face of my Spanish waiter (who in the world would order such a thing at THIS HOUR?!) and I expected similar looks from those around me upon the arrival of my plate. But, luckily, the Spanish women behind me didn't seem to notice and I tried to eat quickly, attempting to remove the majority portion so as not to bring disapproving stares from passersby. It was good, though, and only cost 6.40 Euros. Add a HUGE mug of beer and the total was 9.60 Euros. Leave a very Spanish tip of 40 Eurocents and that's a 10 Euro lunch, folks, and a good one at that; unassuming, tasty, good portions, in a comfortable setting. What more could you ask?

Now it's 6:45pm, getting dark, raining a little more seriously, so I decide to head back to Hostal Martina and get some work done, write this blog, make some phone calls, and relax a bit after a long, somewhat unsuccessful first day in Barcelona.

But on my walk back, I stop in to one of these self-serve candy stores where they have 1001 items you scoop yourself and take up to the cash register. I'm standing there in line, mindin' my own business, when a hoard ot 12-15 year olds rush into the shop, going straight to the back, then all rush back out the door 15 seconds later, some of them with pockets full of candies, you can hear the wrappers rustling around, big stupid grins on their faces. The last kid through opened the bin right in front of the register, grabbed a handful of stuff, and ran out as the clerk grabbed her camera and tried to take photos of them as they all ran away. This prompted another girl of the same age to come into the store, telling the clerk that it was illegal to take photos of minors and that, get this, one of the kids she was photographing was her cousin. And if she, the girl complaining, catches the clerk photographing minors again she'll smash her face in. Can you believe that? All these kids were well-groomed and dressed in school uniforms, all carrying book bags, middle-to-upper class kids, and having a ball stealing from the local Chinese-operated candy shop, giggling and having fun committing their crimes to the delight of their friends waiting on the sidewalk to make their collective get-away, a successful grab-and-dash, a story they'll enjoy telling to anyone who'll listen - except to their parents. That wouldn't be "cool".

So here I sit, reclined on my large bed in my large room at Hostal Martina, very comfortable in my pajamas, admiring the beautifully tiled floors and ornate ceiling, and my mansion sized bathroom in the architecturally modernisme Eixample (Dret) neighborhood, just above Barcelona's Old Quarter. It's probably the best area in which to stay in Barcelona as you're close to everything but with a much lower tourist-to-local ratio.

Tomorrow's another day, starting early with breakfast provided here at the hostal, then a Gourmet Barcelona Walking Tour, a Catalan cuisine sampling, taking place mostly in the Mercat de la Boqueria market. This tour was highly recommended by the woman at the Barcelona Tourist Office so I'm anxious to go. Immediately after the tour I'm off to Sitges, a Mediterranean coastal town about 35 minutes south by train. There, I'll have a tapas lunch with some old friends. Looking forward to that too! Hope we have good weather.

Barcelona AVE Train to Madrid Now Open

The high-speed AVE train connecting Madrid and Barcelona was finally completed and its first official trip took place on 20 February 2008.

Media outlets all of Spain ran a story about it including multi-page articles on the topic with graphics, photos, interviews, and (at least) one newspaper even made an interesting "stop watch" comparison, step-by-step, of Train Travel to Barcelona versus Airplane Travel to Barcelona. I'll discuss this later.

A 16-year wait has finally come to pass. FINALLY! The first high-speed train run between the two cities arrives ahead of schedule and more than 70,000 tickets have ALREADY been sold for future trips. Wow. That's incredible.

The Nuts-and-Bolts:
There are 17 trains going in each direction per day, from Barcelona Sants train station to Madrid Atocha train station, with a total capacity of 13,498 passengers per day. The best/fastest travel time is 2 hours and 38 minutes but other AVE trains take 3 hours or up to 3.5 hours. Check RENFE.es for schedule and prices (up to 62 days in advance). Until last Friday, the fastest Barcelona-Madrid train trip took about 4 hours. Stops from Barcelona include Tarragona, Lleida, Zaragoza, Guadalajara, and Madrid. Top speed is about 300 kmph but average speed is only about 200 kmph. Seating configuration for the upper, "Peferente class", where one can plug-in their electronic device at their seat, is a "thin" 2 x 1 - one seat on one side of the aisle and two seats on the other side, all seats face forward. Tourist class seating configuration remains the typical 2 seats on each side of the aisle and no electronic device plug-ins available. I believe all seats face forward in tourist class too.

PRICES: 119.50 Euros is the general, Tourist Class price for the trip. Yikes! But buying your ticket on the web (which proves to be confusing and difficult to foreigners visiting Spain) costs only 47.80 Euros. Preferente Class prices are much higher. General ticket price is 179.30 Euros one-way. No cheaper, web-purchase tickets are available for this class. Breakfast is included in the morning, Preferente Class tickets. Before the AVE was open for business, I'd made this trip once using Preferente Class service but didn't find the "free breakfast", slightly larger seats, and somewhat more-nicely-dressed attendants to be worth the huge difference in price.

The ESTRELLA Barcelona-Madrid night train still exists, taking about 9.5 hours and costing as little as 38 Euros one-way.

Comparisons of Train travel versus Plane travel from Barcelona to Madrid have been made and both sides both win and lose - depending on the passengers objective.

If price is the deciding factor, AVE train travel wins, costing about 58 Euros less than airplane travel - including presumed taxi costs from/to train-station/airport.

If speed is the deciding factor, airplane travel wins, taking roughly 25 minutes less than AVE train.

If comfort is the deciding factor, BarcelonaMan claims that train travel wins over airplane travel. Why? Train travel involves faster lines in security, less standing/waiting for the actual trip. Plus, on long-distance trains you have a greater range of motion, more space per seat, wider aisles and more abundant, larger restrooms. There's also a selection of recorded music "stations" to which to listen with the free, provided earphones as well as at least one movie. Not sure how they'll show entire movies on the new shorter/faster train routes though. And maybe the best thing about train travel is.... The Bar Car, almost always open, is ready to serve the passenger breakfast, lunch, snacks, sandwiches, beer, or coffee while standing at the bar or along the large windowed walls, providing oftentimes wonderful views of the (in this case) FAST-PASSING countryside. And the "Captain" never saids, "Please return to your seats. We're experiencing turbulence."

The Alternative: Bus Travel from Barcelona to Madrid: The trip takes between 7.5 and 8.0 hours and costs between 27 Euros and 37 Euros. The bus company making this route is ALSA. Saves 10-20 Euros but takes, ugh, 4-5 hours longer. My lower back tightens just thinking about it.

Watch the sparkly 6-minute RENFE Barcelona-Madrid AVE video at http://www.renfe.es/video.html or immediately below with nice music and visuals. No language spoken but Spanish textual details are given regarding the trip.



The Down Low: If one can make their purchases via the website (one must first create an account and have prior personal contact with RENFE, verifying your account at the train station), it can really save a lot of time and add to the comfort and pleasure of the trip - including the same at your destination. There's nothing worse than arriving for your "Trip of a Lifetime" all tired, worn-out, and stiff from a long trip - like how you feel after getting off an overseas flight. I can't imagine spending 8-12 hours on an airplane, landing in Madrid or Barcelona, and then taking an 8-hour bus ride or getting on another airplane shortly thereafter.

Enjoy Spain's Wonderful Train Travel Network!